Revisions To R. 222 Bypass Being Considered Objections By Air Products Stall Plan That Government Officials, Residents, Others Liked.

February 03, 1996|by DAN HARTZELL, The Morning Call

The state Department of Transportation is considering revisions that Air Products and Chemicals Inc. has proposed for the stalled Route 222 bypass but public and private officials have refused to release details.

After more than a decade of planning, officials felt they were on their way to getting the $91 million project off the ground last summer, when Air Products threw up what many considered a last-

FOR THE RECORD - (Published Tuesday, February 6, 1996) Robert E. Lee is a Lower Macungie Township supervisor. A story in some editions Saturday linked him to the wrong municipality.

minute roadblock.

The company objected to the "Alternative D" plan that had been settled upon by state, county and municipal officials, as well as residents and businesses.

Air Products said the plan would bring the bypass too close to company office buildings and use land that might be used for company expansion.

Traffic congestion on Route 222 from Route 100 to Interstate 78 has been heavy, and worsening, for years as western Lehigh County has experienced growth in business and residential development.

Alternative D would relocate a five-mile section of Route 222 with a new four-lane highway north of the existing road and just south of Cetronia Road, with interchanges or jughandles at both ends -- at Cedarbrook Road in Wescosville and at Cetronia Road and Route 100 -- with various access roads and jughandles also planned.

Route 100 would be upgraded from Schantz Spring Road in Upper Macungie Township almost to the existing Route 222 in Trexlertown. The bypass would reconnect with existing Route 222 about a mile west of the existing Routes 100/222 intersection, thus bypassing the narrow, congested intersection with buildings extending virtually to the roadway.

A source said Air Products' new proposal would move the bypass slightly north, taking it further from the company's property -- but encroaching on wetland areas.

Upper Macungie Township Supervisor Robert E. Lee, a member of the bypass planning committee, said he hasn't seen the new proposal, but his understanding is that the plan contains changes to "a route or a couple of routes" from the Alternative D plan.

"It would be functionally the same as (Alternative D) ... but impact less on (Air Products') property," Lee said.

PennDOT District 5 Engineer Walter Bortree declined to release details of the plan, as did Air Products' William Kendrick and state Rep. Don Snyder, R-134th District.

Air Products previously proposed an alternative that would have used Church Lane as a one-way eastbound bypass and existing Route 222 as the westbound route. But that was rejected by the planning committee "because of numerous problems," Snyder said.

A planning committee meeting tentatively scheduled for last week, at which details of the latest company plan could have been discussed, was postponed to allow PennDOT to study the proposal, Snyder said.

Snyder said officials do not want to release details of the plan in part because property owners who might be impacted haven't been notified.

"We don't want to do so if we're not going to pursue it," the Lehigh County Republican said last week. "We decided to wait before we make anything public."

Snyder and Bortree said yesterday it's premature to discuss details of the plan. Bortree said the state review of the proposal's environmental and other impacts should take a number of weeks.